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"Laptop, notebook, pillow, backpack..."
Anna mentally checked her list three times before zipping her bag. With Kurt and Linda both leaving for work, she needed a change of scenery and wanted to take her writing with her. She had one place in mind, the treehouse she had stumbled upon at Dinohenge. The perfect brief escape to be unbothered and focused.
She slung the bag over her shoulders, holding each strap in her hands as she shuffled out of the door. Her hair blew in her face with a small gust of wind and she only shook the hair out of her sight. She skipped along the sidewalk, trying to keep the urges of jumping to every other sidewalk spot at bay by humming a little tune she had stuck in her head.
She loved the days her dad and soon to be step mother worked because she had more free time than usual. They weren't there to ask for help around the house or with Aris - although after the incident in the park; she was sure Linda would never let her watch him again. Anna tried not to think about it as she trotted along to her path.
She dropped her hands from the strap when she reached the treehouse. The area was quiet with the exception of the small breeze blowing in the wind. The weather wasn't too bad when she walked through the woods. The treetops covered the sun and blocked the heat radiating from the rays. Regardless, she made sure to bring along plenty of fluids because she knew she was bound to get hot or thirsty at some point. She even stuffed a few snacks in her bag.
"This spot is so pretty..."
She carefully climbed the ladder and set her bag down. Her first task was to clear all the broken limbs and as much of the dirt off the platform as she could before making herself a comfortable spot between the railing and the wall of the outside of the house.
There was far less debris than she thought, and it took much less time to clear than she had anticipated. She had two things on her mind, write the book she had been working on for quite some time now... and forget about everything else. All she wanted was a peaceful day to let the creative juices flow.
Anna pulled her things out of her bag, dropping the pillow down on the ground before sitting on it. She crossed her legs out in front of her before placing her laptop in her lap and turning it on. The ancient piece of equipment turned on slowly, but served the only purpose she needed it for. A mobile writing station. When she was at home, she preferred working on her desktop or even handwriting out her work.
When the laptop turned on she opened her file and read over the previous section she had written days ago. Then she started typing away, trailing off in broken thoughts of her work and just the things at home that had been bothering her. She continued humming along to a tune that had been stuck in her head since she woke, and just worked. No distractions, no added noises, and no disruptive thoughts.
She was having an exceptionally good day in terms of her OCD and she enjoyed those days more than anything. Though, she did have her moments - just like any other day, but today was minimal and it always made for a much more productive day.
"Cool spot!" Anna jumped as she looked down towards the ground. Standing at the bottom of the treehouse was Javi. He looked up at her with a curious look like he was waiting for an invitation.
Anna sighed, "You just scared the living crap out of me!"
"My bad." he chuckled.
"What made you think that sneaking up on a girl in the middle of the woods was a good idea?" she glared down.
"What made you think sitting alone in the middle of the woods was a good idea?" he countered.
"Do you need something?" Anna asked.
"No, I was just -" he paused, "Walking around. Wanted to check out Dinohenge for myself since everyone keeps talking about it."
"Well, you found it." she pointed to the statues behind him.
"What are you doing?" he asked her.
"Writing. Trying to enjoy peace and quiet for a little while." she shrugged.
"Can I come up?" Javi asked.
"Sure," she answered, "Long as you don't mind if I keep working."
"What are you working on?" he questioned when he reached the top where she was at.
"Just writing." she told him.
Javi sat down next to her - close enough to lean over her shoulder and see what she was doing on her laptop. She had never been shy about letting others read what she wrote, so she didn't entirely mind Javi looking over her shoulder.
She continued typing away before she could forget the words she wanted to jot down. Writing had always been a big part of her life. Sometimes she thought she adapted it from her mother, other days she felt like she was meant to put words to print like all the other authors of the world. It truly was her favorite thing to do and one day, she hoped that she would be able to publish her work for the world to see.
"That's really good." Javi told her.
"Thanks," she muttered as she closed the document and opened her email, "I've been working on that one for a while. It's almost finished."
She started scrolling through the emails, looking for anything interesting that might be sitting in her inbox. She hated checking her email - in fact, she avoided it at all costs most of the time. Was the point anyways? There was nothing she hardly ever needed in there.
"Izzy told me about the Black Power Ranger showing up to help you guys yesterday..." Javi brought up the attack in the park.
"Yeah," she swallowed, "I'm glad he showed up... but I'd prefer not to talk about yesterday."
She clicked on a familiar email address and began reading the message. A smile formed on her lips as she realized what the email contained. About a month prior to that moment, she had applied for an exclusive writing club. She never thought she would get in - but everything about the club seemed amazing to her, so she thought she would take her chances at getting accepted before she even talked about it with her dad or Linda. There was a monthly membership fee that she wasn't sure if they could afford, but she thought that if she got accepted... they would be more open to the idea of letting her join.
"No way!"Anna gasped, "I got in!"
"Got into what?" Javi asked.
"The Pine Ridge Writers club! Only two new people get accepted every year." she told him.
"That's awesome!" Javi gave her a high five, "You must be a really good writer then."
"I can't wait to tell my dad and Linda." She closed out the email and then shut down her laptop.
"Can I walk you home?" Javi asked.
She looked at him for a brief moment as she put her laptop away. She decided to leave the pillow there - knowing that she was going to come back to that spot again. She wondered why Javi had asked to walk her home, but she didn't think much of it. It threw her off for a second, but she quickly came back with a response.
"Sure." she said.
Javi climbed down first and waited at the bottom for her. As she was about to put her backpack over her shoulders, Javi took it right out of her hands and slung it over his shoulder and stuffed his other hand in his jean pockets.
"What are the others doing today?" Anna asked as she instinctively walked her path. Javi followed directly next to her, walking the path as if he had known it for as long as she did.
"I don't know, I think Izzy was with Amelia. I don't know about Ollie or Zayto. They're around somewhere." he told her.
"I really hope I can convince them to let me join the club." Anna excitedly said.
"I'm sure you'll present a good case about it," Javi laughed, "You seem like a good story teller so I'm sure you can convince them."
"We'll see." she laughed back, "Sometimes I over present my case."
"You'll have to let me know what they say." he nudged her as they were walking.
"They probably won't even be home until later." she said.
"That treehouse is a neat little spot." Javi commented.
"Yeah, I found it while walking. This path used to be me and my mom's favorite trail. I walk it everyday and the other night, I found the treehouse while looking at the statues." she explained.
"What happened to your mom?" Javi asked.
Anna didn't know who to answer his question. She never knew how to answer that - everytime she thought about it, it made her stomach twist in knots and she felt sick. She squinted her eyes as she looked forward, watching where they were going as they neared the end of the path.
She honestly didn't want to answer, but she also didn't want to be rude to him either. He didn't know and it was an innocent question. She knew that deep down there was nothing wrong with that, but it always bothered her when people asked since she felt responsible for what happened. Nothing was ever going to take that feeling away from her.
"Uh," Anna breathed, "She passed away."
"Sorry..." Javi cleared his throat.
"It's okay," she said, "My house is up there."
Anna pointed up the road.
"Izzy and I just live a few blocks away from here. Maybe a five minute walk, actually." Javi said.
"Cool." she muttered, walking down the road and trying to contain her excitement about the writing club.
Anna and Javi reached her house, and Anna was a little surprised to see her father standing outside mowing the lawn. She couldn't see him when they were just coming off the trail, but as they grew closer it was apparent that he had come home early from work.
He stopped the moment he saw the two approached, and quickly looked Javi and Anna over. Javi handed Anna over her bag and she returned it to the spot on her shoulder as she waited for her dad to turn the mower off and acknowledge her. Javi stood next to her and waited with the girl.
"Who is this?" Kurt asked.
"This is Javi," Anna said, "Izzy's brother."
"Javi..." Kurt observed him, "Park Warden Garcia's son."
"I was walking through the park and we ran into each other. He offered to walk me home. Is that okay?" Anna eyed her father.
"Well yeah." her dad cleared his throat.
"It's nice to meet you, sir." Javi reached out his hand the same way he had done to Anna when they first met. Anna watched as the two firmly grasped each other's hand and shook.
"Where have you been all morning?" Kurt asked.
"The park." she rocked on her heels, "I went and did some writing. Anyways, guess what!"
"What?" he asked.
"I applied for the Pine Ridge Writers Club, and guess what!" Anna's smile grew the more she thought about it. She was so excited to tell him about it that she could hardly contain the excitement.
"What?" he mocked her excitement, trying to embarrass her in front of the boy, but Javi only laughed.
"I got in!" Anna did a little jump and waited for her fathers full reaction. She wanted so badly to tell him all about it, but he didn't seem as enthusiastic as she felt.
"Really?" He raised a brow.
"Yeah!" she said.
"I'm gonna get going, I'll see you around!" Javi tapped Anna on the shoulder.
"Oh, bye!" Anna turned to look at him.
She walked as he trailed down the sidewalk, walking away from the two of them standing there. Kurt watched his daughter, watching the boy walk away. When he was out of her sight, she looked back at her dad who was still curiously looking at her.
"What?" Anna frowned.
"Nothing." her father shook his head, "Go inside and we can talk about this writing club when Linda comes home in a little bit."
"Okay." Anna turned the frown back into a smile and then turned to go into the house. She twisted the door open, feeling the cool air of the air conditioning hit her skin as she entered the house. It made her shiver for half a second until her body readjusted to the temperturature.
Anna brought her things up to her room and carefully put everything back into the correct spot before heading down to the kitchen to get a snack and something to drink. She had built up a thirst from her walk and drank two full glasses of water before sitting down and eating her snack. Anna looked over at the time on the stove, seeing that Linda would be home in just over an hour. Enough time for her to thoroughly plan out her case to present about the writing club.
She tapped her finger on the table top, mentally counting each tap in sequence as she thought about ways to make her case sound good. The only thing she was worried about was whether or not they would pay the membership fee each month. She knew money was tight, especially with them planning a wedding and all... but she never asked for anything, so hopped that would work to her advantage.
"Javi looked cute today."
Anna paused at her own thoughts. She hadn't even been paying that much attention to him other than their brief conversation. She couldn't even remember what he was wearing... let alone think that he looked cute. Anna laughed at herself as she covered her face with her hands.
"Why are you blushing?" Linda wondered when she walked in holding Aris in her arms.
"Blushing?" Anna looked up.
"Yeah, your cheeks are all red. Did you see a cute boy?" she giggled.
"Uh..." Anna tried not to laugh, "No. I just - am excited."
Kurt followed behind, and Anna immediately started telling them about the writing club. She showed them the entire application, everything online, and they had a long talk about the entire thing. In the end, Anna was bummed when it was not possible for her to join because of the membership fee. She wanted to cry, but she didn't let herself. She knew she shouldn't have gotten her hopes up about it in the first place - but she couldn't help it.
After a very silent dinner, Anna escaped up to her room for the night and sat down at her desk. She got on her computer and wrote an email to the writing club, thanking them for the opportunity to join their club - but ultimately, turned down the acceptance in a very detailed and thankful manner. It hurt her a little, but not as much as she thought it would - maybe it would hit her later, but right now, she kept her emotions at bay. The next morning, she knew she would feel more emotional about it when she started thinking about it again and it truly set in that she couldn't do the one thing she loved doing.
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